About Pawsitively Polite Dog Training

About Pawsitively Polite

Pawsitively Polite Dog Obedience Training, LLC is Debbie Tangen's private, in-home training business in Kansas City, Missouri. The home page bills her as "Debbie Tangen, CPDT-KA" and "Owner/Certified Dog Trainer and Canine Good Citizen Test Evaluator", and she states the model plainly: "As a private, in-home trainer, I come to you because I believe dogs learn new skills better in their own familiar surroundings."

What she does and does not teach

The home page is unusually direct about scope. She does not teach agility or tricks – "I won’t teach Fido to skillfully navigate an agility course, teach him to roll over, walk backwards on 2 legs or leap into the air performing a 360-degree turn" – and instead trains manners: "I will train him to display polite behavior such as sit, stay, down and come on cue, as well as keep “all four on the floor” (no jumping), maintain a loose leash while walking (no pulling), and decrease excessive barking." The page says she works with everything "From puppies to senior dogs, Chihuahuas to Great Danes".

Credentials, with the dates she gives

The about page sets out the route in detail. She came to dog training from music therapy and thirteen years teaching preschool music, then enrolled at Animal Behavior College, completing nine modules, shelter volunteering and "an 18-week externship with an established dog trainer" before passing the final exam in April of 2021. She then worked toward the CPDT-KA credential, which required 300 logged contact hours training dogs, a submitted training log, a letter of test readiness and a national standardized exam; she records passing in April of 2022. In February of 2026 she earned the CBATI-KA credential – Certified Behavior Adjustment Training Instructor-Knowledge Assessed – and explains the approach behind it: "The philosophy behind Behavior Adjustment Training (BAT) teaches reactive dogs that they have a choice in how they interact with their environment."

Consultation and area

The free consultation has a published boundary: it is offered "to dog guardians living within the I-435 loop of the Kansas City, Missouri metropolitan area", and outside that loop the consultation fee is $75 to cover gas and drive time. At the consultation she visits the home, takes the training goals and observes the dog before recommending a plan.

A note on the site's pricing page

The site's pricing page has not been filled in – it still carries the theme's placeholder text and grooming packages rather than training prices – so no training price is quoted here.